Comments on: How Do You Say “Spoiler Alert” in French?

By: Edward Gauvin

Edward Gauvin — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 23:18:55 +0000

Apres tou, l’important n’est pas ce qui arrive, mais comment cela arrive. Thanks for the link, Nick!

By: Aray

Aray — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 19:02:36 +0000

It’s been a million years since I read it (maybe it was Kurt Vonnegut’s Galapagos?) but there’s a book that indicates the fate of its characters with symbols from their first introduction, as in any character with an asterisk will be dead by page 50, etc. I thought it was a fun way to spoil things, without really spoiling anything. After all, it’s the how, not the what. (If only I knew how to say that in French).

By: Tom Walker

Tom Walker — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 02:06:27 +0000

I agree that knowing the ending has changed my experience reading a few stories. I think it has something to do with being told “you are going to Disneyland” and once you know that you think “well, ok Mr. Smartypants writer, let’s see how you take me there from your starting point.” So maybe it engages the reader more in an adventurous or critical way to see if the path is entertaining, believable, and ultimately if it forces you to keep turning pages. Which in the end is what I imagine you writer folk want us to do. N’est pas? (vous voyez que j’ai fait là?) But knowing this, then why don’t I immediately read the endings to all my books? That’s where the psychology comes in. People tend to “spoil” things quickly and succinctly (Dumbledore kills Yoda!), whereas if you read it within the pages or you flip to the end of the book you absorb more of the context and lose some of the adventure. That’s just my theory though that I made up just now.

By: Nick Arvin

Nick Arvin — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 01:10:12 +0000

Heather, that’s amazing. Your story reminded me of a novel, THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT’S WOMAN, by John Fowles (by the way, how much more “French” can I work into this post, I wonder?). It’s written in a way that provides two alternate endings for the reader to pick from. Sounds gimmicky, but within the larger framework of the novel it makes perfect sense. It’s a fantastic book.

By: Heather

Heather — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 20:51:02 +0000

Bookworm kid that I was, I always hated getting to the end of a good book, so I made a conscious effort to “forget” the ending after I read it, so that I could have the full pleasure of re-reading it. And I re-read my favorites many many times. Unfortunately I became so good at this that I now cannot remember the endings of books or movies to save my life. Strangely, as I would get closer and closer to the end on a re-reading, I would actively imagine the ending going either way, and then just revel in the telling as it unfolded. So I guess what I’m saying is I agree with the study. Endings are overrated; the pleasure is in the telling.

By: susannadonato

susannadonato — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 19:30:52 +0000

Very interesting. Sometimes I think I do enjoy a book more if someone has told me what happens in the end, but I think I enjoy it that way as a writer, not a reader — when I’m watching out to try to see how the author “did that.” On the other hand, I also know people who like to know the ending (of a book or a movie) because it relieves the tension/nerves and they can just enjoy the journey.

By: Beth Obermeyer

Beth Obermeyer — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 12:15:57 +0000

Sometimes I read a story a second time. I know how it ends but love how the details get told, see new clues each time, appreciate the obstacles more. Can I say this? In my new book, the reader knows at the start that 1,801 townspeople will gather on a tough downtown street, all have found tap shoes and learned the dance, to open their arts center. The story is over three decades old and still in the news. Sometimes the reader likes to be in on the hunt.